Harsha - Wars and Reign

Wars and Reign

Though quite a young man when he came to power, Harsha proved himself a great conqueror and an able administrator. After his accession, Harsha united the two kingdoms of Thanesar and Kannauj and transferred his capital from Thanesar to Kannauj.

Harsha set out to punish his rival, Shashanka, the lord of Gauda (Bengal). He formed an alliance with Bhaskaravarman, king of Kamarupa and marched on Shashanka. Although he defeated his rival, the result was indecisive as Shashanka continued to rule much of his kingdom and it was only after his death that Harsha was able to oust Shashanka's son, Manava and bring Bihar, Kanauj and northern Bengal under his rule (Bhaskaravarman was able to conquer the remainder of the Shashanka's kingdom). He conquered Dhruvasena of Gujarat and gave his own daughter in marriage to him. He also conquered Ganjam (whose king was a vassal of Shashanka), a part of the modern Orissa State.

Harsha's ambition of extending his power to the Deccan and Southern India were stopped by the great Chalukya Emperor of South India Pulakeshi II, the Chalukya king of Vatapi in Northern Karnataka along the banks of river Narmada. Pulakeshi defeated Harsha's army on the banks of the river Narmada in 620. A truce was agreed upon and the river Narmada was marked as the southern boundary of Harsha's kingdom.

Harsha was an energetic ruler who travelled frequently in order to keep himself accessible to his subjects. In the latter half of his reign, he spent most of his time in camp, travelling from place to place. He was a man of considerable literary interests and talents and despite his administrative duties, he managed to write plays i.e. Ratnavali, Priyadarshika and Nagananda, of which, the first two are comedies in the classical style and the third has a serious religious theme. He maintained a magnificent court where philosophers, poets, dramatists and painters flourished. Banabhatta, the author of Harsha-Charita and Kadambari, was the court poet of Harsha. Maurya, the author of Mayurashataka, and Bhartrihari, the author of Vakyapadiya and a grammarian, also lived at the court of Harsha. Harsha was the chief patron of the University of Nalanda where about 10,000 students from all parts of India and abroad studied.